Budget cuts could impact health dept.

Federal budget cuts related to the sequester will hit Flathead County’s Health Department, but it will take a while.

That’s the word from the county Health Officer, Joe Russell, who spoke Friday at the Glacier Country Pachyderm Club.

The sequester will result in a 2 percent cut in Medicare, which will affect local hospitals and the Health Department’s home health program, Russell said.

The cuts could also affect cancer screening, the Flathead Community Health Center’s base funding, the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program and public emergency preparedness.

“It’s too early to tell because the funding goes through the state,” Russell added.

“I am glad it’s in effect,” he said of the sequester. “But public health is the wrong place to cut funds.”

Russell said the 2 percent cut wouldn’t occur until after the beginning of the federal government’s next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.

Russell, who is in his 15th year as health director, updated the audience about goings-on at the health department.

There has been a noticeable increase in pertussis, or whooping cough, vaccinations over the past two years, he said. Flathead County has had 73 cases of whooping cough so far this year. There were 62 documented cases last year.

The pertussis vaccine loses its effectiveness over time, Russell said. As a result, the Health Department recommends that any adult who hasn’t had one in the last five years get a pertussis booster shot, especially those who work in the healthcare field or with children.

The county health center charges $56 for the pertussis vaccine for adults.

The average visit to the county health center, located in Kalispell at 1035 First Ave. W., costs $95, which Russell said is “not bad.”